The University of Mount Olive recently announced that it will add women’s wrestling to the 22 NCAA Division II varsity sports currently being offered by the university.

“We have had great success with men’s wrestling and look to use that as a springboard to adding women’s wrestling,” UMO Vice President for Athletics Jeff Eisen said. “We are excited for the opportunity to add another women’s sport to our program and expect it to have the same academic and athletic success that we have experienced in other sports.”

The program will begin competition in the 2022-2023 academic year.  UMO is a member of Conference Carolinas for most of its sport, and UMO will participate in women’s wrestling as an independent. 

UMO will be the first Division II school in North Carolina to participate in women’s wrestling and will join fellow Conference Carolinas members Emmanuel College and King University as sponsors of women’s wrestling teams.

The NCAA recognized women’s wrestling as an emerging sport in 2020 for all three divisions and there are currently 45 NCAA intercollegiate women’s wrestling programs.

UMO plans to hire a head coach as soon as possible. The women’s wrestling team will practice and condition at the Wrestling Practice Facility located just off the UMO campus, while home competitions will be held in Kornegay Arena.

UMO last added new sports in the 2018-19 academic year, when men’s wrestling and women’s field hockey began competition.